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INTERVIEW


AS NORTHERN IRELAND’S COMMUNITY PHARMACY CONTINUES TO NOT ONLY LANGUISH IN THE DOLDRUMS, BUT TO ACTUALLY FALL DEEPER INTO DECLINE, PIF SPEAKS TO COMMUNITY PHARMACY SCOTLAND’S CHIEF ExECUTIVE OFFICER, PROFESSOR HARRY MCQUILLAN, ABOUT THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL FOR SCOTLAND’S PROGRESSIVE AGENDA AND ABOUT HOW THE ORGANISATION FITS IN WITH OTHER PHARMACY BODIES.


‘ONE VOICE’


The key to progressing the community pharmacy agenda


By John Macgill P


rofessor Harry McQuillan was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish


Pharmaceutical General Council in July of 2006 and has been at the helm as it evolved, drawing in the Scottish Pharmaceutical Federation and rebranding as Community Pharmacy Scotland in 2007.


Harry McQuillan (HM): At the time that I joined the then Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council, it was clear that the new contract we were working within was ‘different’ and that the organisation had to change and upgrade so that, as new services were being introduced into the community pharmacies, we had the support structure that was going to get behind contractors to help them change the way that they operated.


So we rebranded and started the evolution into a new entity with a different way of thinking and a new


8 - PHARMACY IN FOCUS


way of supporting people to allow them to deliver the contract that both the NHS and the Scottish Government were looking for. We had always been a negotiating body. Back then it was the primary function. Now, while it still remains a big part of our activity, we do a lot more as well to support community pharmacy.


JM: How important is it that there is a single voice for community pharmacy?


HM: I think the single voice is important in the recognition of the pharmacy network at the heart of the communities, in a place that adds value to the community and brings important social capital in today's changing NHS. There are other contractor bodies who operate at a UK level and in other UK nations.


We speak to them and it is good if we talk about the same things and have a similar message. It’s much easier when we are aligned strategically, when all


Professor Harry McQuillan


contractors share the same core vision of the future.


JM:We look across the water and we see conversations about bringing together the Ulster Chemists’ Association and Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland. Would you encourage those involved to try to see this through?


HM:We did it here in Scotland when the Scottish Pharmaceutical Federation amalgamated with the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council very early on in my tenure here. So there is a model of where marriages like this have worked well, in my own opinion, and if that is something that our Northern Ireland colleagues are considering as a way forward, we could certainly advise them that it is has been delivered here in the past and has been successful.


It came about because I think the Scottish Pharmaceutical Federation


itself had looked at the overlap with what they did as a Federation and what we did as the General Council. We were both lobbying on the same things, we both represented members including independents and, ourselves, bigger organisations who were members of the Company Chemists’ Association.


The simple question was, would this not be better done with a unified voice? I have to say it is easier for all concerned, including politicians and civil servants, to deal with one recognised body rather than speaking to one team one week and another the next. And we also remove any temptation to divide and conquer.


JM: Over the period, how would you characterise the way that the negotiations have felt. Do they get tougher each time?


HM: These are challenging times in terms of how much there is in the public sector purse and how it is used. The money part, how it is


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